As we shared before, a draft of the City’s Bicycle Master Plan (BMP) is out for public comment and several community meetings were held. Last week, a community meeting occurred in Roosevelt to discuss the Draft BMP. While I was out of town all last week, our friends at the Ravenna Blog provided live coverage of it. You can relive the magic of the meeting by reading her clever comments to get a better understanding of all that’s proposed. Public comments are open until Friday, July 26th. You can submit them via email at bmpupdate@seattle.gov.
A snip-it from the BMP's NE Sector Map.
One item that caught our eye is a proposed cycle track running along 35th Ave NE, from NE 65th Street to NE 125th Street. A snip-it from the NE Sector Map for the Wedgwood neighborhood is provided below. Don’t worry, I’ve already asked the City to correct the “Wedgewood” spelling.
So, what is a “cycle track” you ask? Great question! A cycle track is a dedicated travel lane for cyclists that is separated from vehicles. For those that were at the Ravenna-Bryant Community Association’s community meeting in April, you may recall Dr. Beth Ebel, Injury Prevention & Research Center Director at Harborview, point out that separating cars and pedestrians/cyclists is the best way to prevent collisions. Therefore, it may not be unexpected that the City is moving towards these separated travel lanes given the recent vehicle/pedestrian and vehicle/cyclist collisions.
For those that haven’t seen a cycle track though, below are some images to give you an idea. However, we want to hear your thoughts as well. Please let us know what you think in the comment section below.
Recently completed cycle track on Linden Ave (photo by SDOT)
A portion of the Hornby Cycle Track in Vancouvery, BC. (Photo by Cathy Tuttle)
I like the idea of dedicated space for bicycles on 35th Ave NE. I presently use 35th with my bike and feel vulnerable because there is not enough room.